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Dark Infiltrates the Cyberpunk Era

It's been a good half-year since we last heard from Dark, but the fanged terror has surfaced again in the form of this new trailer video. The whole vampire theme has gotten really cheesy of late, but it looks like this stealth/action/RPG mix is dangerously close to getting the bloodsucking formula right.

It seems that blending the blood-in-goblets quaintness of vampirism with the hard-edged, dimly-lit world of cyberpunk has netted us a winner. This Eric Bane guy is already, automatically ten times cooler than the surly Adam Jensen, and the stalking stealth moves of the gameplay put me in mind of the classic Thief series -- something whose stealth has gone largely unrivalled since its discontinuation. Here's a list of what else we can expect:

Stealth and action combine as players walk the world in darkness and silence, attacking their unsuspecting foes with supernatural fury

Use powerful vampire abilities and hard-hitting melee attacks to defeat dangerous enemies - turn into a puff of smoke and disappear, or close with your foes in an instant!

Powerful and intelligently controlled AI enemies mix the fantastic with the real-world. Battle police and elite special forces along with ghouls and other vampires

Castles, museums, skyscrapers, nightclubs and more are rendered in stunning 3D cel-shaded graphics, beckoning the player to explore -- but beware, powerful enemies hide everywhere

RPG element mix with a compelling story – players will build up their skills through successful evasion and combat, while advancing the story through conversations with NPCs

It's a pity about that horrible rock soundtrack -- let's just cover our ears for now and hope that Dark will still end up a worthwhile contribution to the ailing vampire genre. No exact release date has been confirmed, but we know we'll be seeing it in Q2 this year.